Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 2

Apple's iPod was the first digital music player to strike people as stylish. Since then, there have been many attempts by other manufacturers to build good-looking models but few have made much of an impression on the market. Apple isn't the only company with a reputation for building good-looking kit though. Bang & Olufsen has been building cutting-edge audio equipment for years and has just shown its first MP3 player.

First impressions are very good. The compact and shiny design of the BeoSound 2 MP3 player is certainly eye-catching, measuring just 73mm in diameter. It's so small that you can slip it into a pocket and barely notice.

There's a circular group of buttons on the face of the unit that allow you to easily control playback. When you're not carrying it around, you can slot it into its docking station, an equally neat little black podium that glows different colours to indicate functions such as battery recharging, playback and downloading music. Sadly, the docking station can't use a USB port as a power source, which means a separate power supply is needed.

The double-headed USB/power cable that trails across your desk to the docking station rather spoils the streamlined elegance of the BeoSound's otherwise minimalist design.

When the player is connected to your PC you can use the bundled BeoPlayer software for storing and downloading music. This works quite well, even if its interface is a bit ugly. So far we like pretty much everything about the BeoSound 2.

We were shocked, therefore, to discover that it is only supplied with 128Mb of memory in the form of a removable memory card, despite costing a jaw-dropping £485. Even Apple wouldn't have the nerve to charge that much for an iPod. In fact, you can get an iPod with a built-in 30Gb hard disk for £86 less.

The BeoSound 2 is certainly nicely designed and its limited capacity wouldn't be a problem if the unit were more reasonably priced. Even the cachet of the B&O label cannot begin to justify that price tag.

Contact: Bang & Olufsen 0800 138 0525
www.bang-olufsen.com